With investigators still searching for clues about what may have led Thomas Matthew Crooks to attack Donald Trump, new details that have emerged in the case show that the 20-year-old was spotted by three police snipers minutes before he opened fire at the former US president.
 
The 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate was injured in an assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. 

Crooks, a resident of nearby Bethel Park, had climbed on a rooftop with a rifle in hand to attack Trump. He, however, was killed by a US Secret Service sniper minutes after he opened fire, which killed a bystander and injured two spectators.

The Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting US political leaders, has since then faced backlash over how a gunman aiming an assault rifle was allowed to take position on a roof some 500 feet from Trump, who is pitted against US President Joe Biden in the November 5 elections.

Mobile footage has emerged of people sighting the gunman on the roof and trying to warn security before he opened fire.

According to CBS News, there were three snipers stationed inside the building the shooter used during Saturday’s shooting. The operations plan had them stationed inside the building looking out windows toward the Trump rally.

One of the snipers inside saw Crooks outside and looking up at the roof, observing the building and disappearing, a local law enforcement officer told CBS News. The 20-year-old then came back, sat down, and looked at his phone. At that point, one of the snipers took a picture of him. 

Crooks took out a rangefinder and the Secret Service sniper radioed to the command post, CBS News reported. He then disappeared again and came back a third time with a backpack. 

The Secret Service snipers called in with information that he had a backpack and said he was walking toward the back of the building. Officers believe that the shooter might have used an air conditioning unit to get on top of the roof.

By the time other officers came for backup, he had climbed on top of the building and was positioned above and behind the snipers inside the building, CBS News reported citing an officer.

Two other officers who heard the sniper’s call tried to get onto the roof. State police started rushing to the scene, but by that time, a Secret Service sniper had already killed Crooks, the officer said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has paid tribute to the four soldiers killed on Monday in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda. “Today, our soldiers were martyred in another terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. I pay my humble tribute to the martyrs and express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” he posted in Hindi on X Tuesday morning.

Mr Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the number of such attacks on Indian soldiers in J&K in the past few months is “extremely sad and worrying”.

He also hit out at the government for the “poor condition of Jammu and Kashmir” and said the soldiers there are “bearing the brunt of the BJP’s wrong policies”. The “wrong policies” reference has been seen as an attack on the Modi government over the scrapping of Article 370 in J&K.

“It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for repeated security lapses,” Mr Gandhi said and called for “strict action” against the terrorists.

आज जम्मू कश्मीर में फिर से एक आतंकी मुठभेड़ में हमारे जवान शहीद हो गए। शहीदों को विनम्र श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित करते हुए शोक संतप्त परिजनों को गहरी संवेदनाएं व्यक्त करता हूं।

एक के बाद एक ऐसी भयानक घटनाएं बेहद दुखद और चिंताजनक है।

लगातार हो रहे ये आतंकी हमले जम्मू कश्मीर की जर्जर…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 16, 2024

However, Mr Gandhi also underlined the need for political unity at this time, and the importance of the opposition supporting the government as it responds to the increased terror threat.

“In this hour of grief, the entire country stands united against terrorism,” he said.

Four soldiers, including an officer, were killed in action in Doda district. The terrorists had attacked a joint operation – of the Army and J&K Police – formed to track them down.

READ | 4 Soldiers Killed In Action In Encounter With Terrorists In J&K’s Doda

Contact was made late Monday night, the Army had said.

The operation is ongoing, NDTV has been told.

Sources told NDTV Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi and took stock of the ground situation and ongoing operation in Doda.

This was the second major encounter in the Jammu region after five soldiers were killed in action in Kathua last week. That attack, in which five were also injured, was a coordinated strike on two trucks – with grenades and armour-piercing bullets, and an American-made assault rifle.

READ | Kathua Terror Attack On 2 Trucks, Armour-Piercing Bullets Used

The attacks, which began in Poonch and Rajouri, have now spread across Jammu, a region that was free from terrorism till a few years ago. In the last 32 months, 48 soldiers have been killed.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Parliament the fight against terrorism in J&K is in its last stage, and that a multi-pronged strategy had been adopted to destroy the remaining network. “Our fight against terrorism in J&K, in a way, is in last stage, last leg. We are moving with a multi-pronged strategy to eliminate the remaining terror network there,” he said.

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Puja Khedkar, an IAS officer, applied for certificates from Aundh and YCMH hospitals. While Aundh rejected the duplicate application, YCMH granted a 7% disability for an ACL tear. Previously an IRS officer at SAI, she has multiple disabilities including vision impairment and depression. A 2023 Central Administrative Tribunal order confirmed these, and UPSC listed her OBC status.